In an effort to consolidate production and control costs, Vie de France Yamazaki, Inc. on Feb. 22 announced plans to cease production at its frozen bread plant located in Bensenville, Ill., outside of Chicago. The plant will be closed April 27.
The company said about 70 employees will be affected by the closing.
“This was a very difficult decision for us,” said Sadao Yasumura, president and chief operating officer of Vie de France said. “We have been producing and distributing our products from the Chicago market for many years. However, this move gives us the opportunity to consolidate our rather old and outdated Illinois facility into a more efficient, high speed production facility in Georgia. Vie de France customers will benefit from the improvements in efficiency and quality as well as increases in the variety of frozen and par-baked bread products we will be able to offer in the market.”
In addition to the Illinois and Georgia (Atlanta) plants Vie de France operates U.S. baking plants in Vernon, Calif.; Denver; Elmsford, N.Y.; and Alexandria, Va. The company produces a full line of frozen unbaked, par-baked and fully baked croissant, pastries, cakes, cookies and European-style bread.
